Page 14 of Married By Wind
He broke off abruptly and stared across the desert, thinking.
I wondered what his thoughts were and if he was drawing the same conclusion I was, that the strange creature had appeared because of the sand devils. Something had disturbed the balance in the desert, and darker creatures were coming forth. I glanced back in the direction of my tribe. We were barely a half day’s ride away. What if there were other monsters headed toward them? I hoped Uncle Noah was vigilant in keeping watch and would keep them safe from the unknown.
Suddenly, flirting with Vinn seemed pathetic considering the situation. We had a quest that would mean life or death for my tribe. I did not have eternal life to fall back on when everything went wrong. Hiding the lamp was supposed to be the beginning of a change, for Papa forbade me to join Uncle Noah on one of his trading trips, which was why everything I’d done had been in secret. Now I was paying for it.
Without another word, I sprung up on Nika’s back and clutched the reins. “We should go,” I told Vinn, my tone sharp. “We have a long way to travel, and if more of these monsters are coming out of the desert, we have to stop them.”
17
Vinn
Three days passed, and the desert shifted as we traveled deeper into it. I’d never noticed how scorching hot the sun was during the day and the stillness that crept across the air without my winds to blow down from the north. The nights were cool, and in the wasteland of the desert, it was even colder and lonelier. When I’d stayed with Ulika’s tribe by the river, there had been fires, but more for cooking than for warmth. Now the idea of the friendly orange flame would be comforting in the dark coolness of night.
Each evening, we set up a small tent and ate flatbread and cold beans under the starlight. Ulika was withdrawn, often rubbing her shoulder even though she claimed she wasn’t injured. By all appearances, she wanted to be left alone. The void between us was chilling, and to give her space, each night I offered to sit outside the tent and keep watch. I listened to the howls and cries of the nocturnal creatures, some finding food, others unlucky enough to become a larger predator’s next meal.
Nights were cold and dark and full of terror, along with the hovering of a menacing presence, as though the desert plotted against me. Even more concerning was not knowing when the sand devils might attack again.
The third night in the desert, I sat on a rock while Ulika slept in the tent behind me. The long, weary nights made me wish I could blow my winds across the desert. Sleep was uncomfortable. When I closed my eyes, a sense of unease came over me, as though something was watching, waiting to take me off guard. The slow-moving journey tried my patience. I wanted something to do with my hands, whittling wood, shaping clay, anything but pouring sand through my fingers and watching while the camel slept. She was the most passive creature I’d ever met. Nothing upset her.
The tent flap opened, and Ulika poked her head out. There was just enough moonlight to let me see the shape of her body and the white of her teeth when she spoke, but not much else. She rubbed her arms as she joined me on the rock. “It’s chilly out here. Aren’t you cold?”
I shrugged. “It’s the same as it’s been every night. Why aren’t you sleeping?”
Ulika tucked her feet under her and gazed up at the starry sky peppered with silver streaks. “On nights when I couldn’t sleep, I’d lie by the river with Anat. The sound of water is soothing, like a lullaby. We’d watch the stars and see how many constellations we’d find. I always thought the sky would look different if I traveled, but it’s comforting to know that whenever I go, it’s the same sky, same moon, same stars looking down at us.” Her voice sounded wistful and lonely, and I glanced at the tilt of her chin, the way she stared up as though searching for answers.
“When I left the Frost Mountains and came down here, it was comforting to see something familiar. Except the sky is much further away and without the trees and mountains, it appears bigger.”
“What was it like coming from the land of ice and snow to here?”
“It felt like freedom.”
Her head dropped, her gaze firmly fixated on me. “I…have a question, and if it is too personal, you don’t have to answer,” she said.
Now it was my turn to face her. “Ask,” I encouraged.
“When we were in Fae Mountain, before you took me to the hall of the gods, I touched you and had visions of a beautiful place, crisp, cold air, lush gardens. Just flashes of it. Was that where you lived before?”
“You saw all that?” I exclaimed, unable to hide my surprise. “Is this the first time it has happened?”
Twisting her fingers together, she nodded. “Do you know why?”
I studied her. How odd. My thoughts returned to Val Ether, and Justice holding tightly to Ulika’s hands as though she could sense something about her. I’d been angry and frightened the gods would discover how much I cared about her. Now, as I thought back, I recalled it was only after Justice touched Ulika that she pronounced she would not dissolve the binding. Was it because she’d read something in Ulika and guessed that in order to defeat the sand devils, I needed her? Justice claimed Ulika had no magic, but what if some other power was awakening within her?
Moving closer, until our knees touched, I placed my hands palm up. “I don’t have a logical explanation, only an inkling.”
She gave a sharp intake of breath, and her voice was soft when she asked. “What do you think it is?”
“Close your eyes,” I instructed, taking her hands in mine. “Tell me what you see, or feel.”
Her fingers closed gently around mine. Everything about her was soft but hiding surprising strength—like the way she’d slain the scorpion, or at least wounded it so I could kill it. She attempted to hold me at a distance yet treated me with reverence. She was a mortal, forbidden, but all the old feelings were resurfacing in her presence. Instead of leaning in, I should tell her to go back inside the tent and go to sleep while I sat outside alone, reading the future in the stars.
Ulika’s voice brought me back to the present moment. “I don’t see anything clearly, just a blur of green and red flowers, like the ones you had in the mountain. I get the sense of a lush, beautiful land, and it smells delicious, and yet…something is wrong.”
Ripping her hands out of mine, Ulika opened her eyes. The way she looked at me made my heart beast fast. What had she seen?
“Vinn? Did something happen in the Frost Mountains? Did someone force you to leave and come here? I know you said you were assigned, but…it didn’t feel that way. It didn’t feel like a choice.”
My heart closed, and a hardness came over me. But I didn’t want those emotions anymore. They had always left my side of the story unsaid. Perhaps she was the one willing to hear the truth, and not judge me like the gods.
